ZIMBABWEAN boxing legend Langton “Schoolboy” Tinago has died aged 69.

He died at Gweru General Hospital on Tuesday morning.

Before his death, Tinago complained that he lived the life of a pauper in the Midlands capital where he lived off his pension payout despite being a Commonwealth champion at some point in his career.

He was a professional boxer in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s and won the Commonwealth lightweight and featherweight titles.

Tributes poured in from local sports stars.

Supersport cricket pundit and former national team fast bowler Mpumelelo Mbangwa, writing on Twitter, said: “Rest in Peace, champion Langton Schoolboy Tinago.”

Journalist Ranga Mberi was blunt in his condolence message on Facebook: “Living off his Gweru City council pension in a run down house  in Ascot. RIP Langton “Schoolboy” Tinago.

“Hopefully one day we will take better care of our history and its leading lights. We are a country with no memory.”

Tinago died a bitter man. In an interview with a local publication, the boxer lamented being neglected by authorities despite putting the country’s name on the world map.

“I know Zimbabweans are fond of passing glowing eulogies when someone dies yet they would have never bothered to check on him or her during the days when that person needed them the most,” he said.

“Right now I feel neglected, wondering where all those people who used to fill up Rufaro Stadium just to watch me fight are when I am struggling like this.

“The only income I get is my pension from the Gweru City Council and a barbershop I rent out.

“Right now, every time a promising boxer comes along, people rush to say he is the next Schoolboy, he is the next Tinago. However, my question is how can you produce the next Tinago when you don’t go to the man and say Mudhara (old man), we are here seek some advice?”

The pugilist who grew up in Gweru began his boxing career in 1967 and at one point he beat Herald Vabrect then ranked the world number seven back in 1987.

During his illustrious career, Tinago was the first to win the sportsperson of the year award three years in a row and  was runner up in the fourth year.

The Boxing Control Board Chairperson Richard Hondo, was saddened by the news of his death.

“I saw his career form the start until it finished. He is the greatest boxer and that I can testify. He is the Zimbabwean sportsman who created history in the Commonwealth games, being a champion three times. It’s a huge blow for us and no one can match his discipline and he will remain the best in Zimbabwe’s boxing history,” he said.

Tinago reached the pinnacle of his career in the 1980s when he won his first international silverware after beating Nigerian superstar Hogan Jimoh in Lagos.

The Zimbabwean boxing legend went on to defeat Australian boxer Graeme Brooke to win his first Commonwealth lightweight title way back in 1986.

For his sterling achievements on the international stage, Tinago was at one point given an accolade by the Zimbabwe Boxing Control Board.

In Zimbabwe, he also won the Zimbabwean lightweight and welterweight titles on numerous occasions.

Tinago played an influential role in the development of grassroots boxing. In 2016, he formed a boxing club- Ascot Boxing Club which however, collapsed due to lack of sponsorship.

Tinago had also been mentoring a number of local boxers that include Edmore Takawira and at one point he trained Alfonso “Mosquito”Zvenyika.